


Good Boy

by copperbadge



Category: NCIS
Genre: Alternate Universe - Serial Killers, Bondage, Gen, Murder, Serial Killers, Violence, codependent dysfunction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-02-14
Updated: 2009-02-14
Packaged: 2017-11-18 21:05:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/565295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/copperbadge/pseuds/copperbadge
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony needs Gibbs. Gibbs has his uses for Tony, too.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Good Boy

**Author's Note:**

> PLEASE note tags -- this is a violent, dysfunctional story about a serial killer and about a normally morally upright character who condones his actions. The mature rating on this is purely for violence, not for sexual content.

**Snapshot:**

He grows up in a house with everything but love. Sad story, but true. 

He runs wild on an estate. Kills squirrels. Crack shot. 

**Snapshot:**

His first real kill. Junior at boarding school. 

He never takes souvenirs, already aware he's going to be a cop. Too dangerous to keep evidence around. While he takes them down he plays a movie instead. He prefers black and white, he discovers later, because when he watches the movie later the memory comes back in overwhelming technicolour. 

And Bogart, but he's not sure why.

**Snapshot:**

First police job. He has to move on when things get intense, people get a little close. He bounces around for years after that. Never letting anyone get too hot on his trail. Nobody really suspects. He's very careful when he kills. And he kills scumbags, so the police don't even care too much. 

**Snapshot:**

NCIS. Recruitment. Leroy Jethro Gibbs. 

Tony recognises something -- something of the predator in Gibbs. And oh how he wants to please him, because Gibbs challenges him. Whacks him in the back of the head but indulges his quirks. Makes him feel like _more._

He doesn't kill for almost a year and a half. He fights it off as long as he can, because of Gibbs. He can be better than this. He can watch the movies, that'll be enough.

For a while.

**Snapshot:**

His first kill as an NCIS agent. He can't resist. He picks a petty officer that everyone _knew_ willfully killed civilians in Iraq. During peacetime occupation. Even Gibbs hasn't got much nice to say about the guy.

Tony takes the photos and takes them to Abby in the lab. When she brings them up, when he _shows them to her_ , he's so excited he's practically climbing the walls. 

"You're really into these, huh?" she asks. "Oooh."

"Oooh?" he says.

"I like this one," she says, pointing to his work _his work!_ "It's going on my wall."

"Really?" He's so pleased. She beams at him.

When he comes down to the lab, for months after, it's like killing all over again. Every time they investigate one of his kills, he gets to take the photos. It's such a high. 

**Snapshot:**

Third kill as an NCIS agent. Just after Cate Todd's death. He's angry, and hurting for Gibbs because Gibbs blames himself, and Tony gets sloppy.

Two weeks later, that's when Gibbs comes to him. 

"Stand there," Gibbs says, and Tony stands very still in the dark, empty office after everyone's gone. Gibbs circles him once, steps up into his personal space, and smacks him hard on the back of the head.

"Thank you, boss," Tony says quickly. "Why am I thanking you?"

Gibbs just stares at him.

"Boss, seriously, what'd I do?" Tony asks.

Stare.

"Boss?" He's scared now. 

"Willa Macintosh," Gibbs says softly, and Tony's guts go cold. 

"Who's -- " he starts, and Gibbs smacks him so hard he jerks forward. Gibbs props him with a hand on his chest. 

" _Don't_ lie to me."

Tony fumbles for a minute. "What do you want me to say, boss?"

"I asked some questions," Gibbs said. "And followed my gut. And I found out about Willa. And the others. So I want you to answer me when I ask you this."

Tony nods, swallowing.

"Was she your first?"

"Yes," Tony says. Gibbs steps back and picks up a notebook on his desk. Gives it to him. Gives him a pen.

"Make a list," he says. 

"Boss, I -- "

"Make a list," Gibbs says, iron in his voice but still almost...gentle. "I want to know all the names. And what they did."

Tony's head snaps up. 

"You're not the kind of man who picks 'em at random," Gibbs continues. "You killed them because they did something. I want that list on my desk tomorrow. You bolt tonight, I'll find you and kill you myself. You still here tomorrow, we'll talk," he says, and walks away.

**Snapshot:**

"You never, ever kill again without my permission. I will tell you where and when."

"How?"

"You'll know."

**Snapshot:**

Once in a while Tony knows he's going to be sent after someone but he gets a little ahead of himself and he doesn't wait for the signal, for that look in his master's eyes that says it's Tony's turn to run loose. Gibbs never says anything, just looks disapproving and whaps him on the back of the head a little harder than normal. 

But when he does let Tony off the leash, when they know someone did something bad and can't prove it in court, when Gibbs wants blood and Tony gets to play, oh yes. Only three times in two years and it's _so good._ It's all Tony needs.

Then Gibbs is gone -- hurt, amnesiac, gone to _Mexico_. Suddenly Tony's the boss. He wishes Jenny understood, he wishes he had someone to tell him what to do, because Jenny's stupid little undercover job is good but it isn't _enough_ , nothing's enough and he's lost. 

He fights and fights and fights and considers whether it wouldn't be better for everyone if he killed himself, or Gibbs for abandoning him, or everyone. But he does the job, and he watches the movies, and he plays Jenny's little games but soon it's not going to be enough -- 

Then it's not. And there's an innocent woman but she's close and convenient and Tony's _so sorry_ afterwards. But there's nobody to be sorry to. 

**Snapshot:**

Gibbs comes back. 

"Boss, we need to talk."

Gibbs sits back and looks at him. He stands and gestures for Tony to follow him, and they go driving and Tony confesses, confesses it all. When he's done talking, Gibbs ups the speed on the car by about twenty miles an hour. 

"I abandoned you," he says finally. "Not your fault. Blood's on my hands." 

He turns to look at Tony, and his eyes are very sharp.

"You've got your absolution, DiNozzo. We go on from here."

"Yes, boss," Tony says, and tight tension unwinds in every muscle. 

Master's back. 

**Snapshot:**

Jenny's dead and Tony has his orders.

Agent Afloat.

Trapped.

**Snapshot:**

"You do someone on a carrier, you're gonna get caught," Gibbs says to him. "Every time you get shore leave, call me. You hear me?"

"Yes, boss," Tony says. He's miserable. He's being sent away. He knows it's because he fucked up, he lost Jenny, but it's so hard. 

"Hey, DiNozzo," Gibbs says, and Tony forces his eyes up. Gibbs is looking at him with something almost like affection. "I'll find suspects for you. Get shore leave, call me. You do not do _anything_ on that carrier. I'll get you through this."

"Thanks, boss," Tony says. His fingers twitch. 

"Keep your weekend free," Gibbs adds. "You and I have work to do."

**Snapshot:**

Gibbs takes him hunting before he has to leave for the USS Ronald Reagan. Gibbs. Takes him hunting. Looking for a scumbag who deserves to die. It's the best weekend of Tony's entire life. No Ziva, no McGee, no Abby or Ducky. Just him and Gibbs. 

And when they find the man they're looking for, Gibbs shows him how to set up a sniper's blind. Shows him how to take aim. Lets him pull the trigger with Gibbs' hands on his, helping him. 

It's not a close-up kill and he doesn't get to have all the fun he normally has, but it's still his favourite. 

"Look after yourself, DiNozzo," Gibbs says later, as Tony lifts his bags and prepares to board. Tony smells sawdust, and remembers the hunt. 

**Snapshot:**

He hasn't seen Gibbs, actually seen him, in four months, and when Gibbs and Ziva turn up in Cartagena Tony is _so relieved._

Gibbs brings him home. Home to Abby with photos of his kills on the walls of her lab, home to NCIS, home to dry land and millions of people where one murdered scumbag won't draw too much attention. 

"Please, boss," he says, between cases. "Please, the next one? Please?"

Gibbs looks at him. 

"Only if necessary, DiNozzo."

It's another two months before he's allowed off the leash. He didn't even know he _had_ that much self-control. After, it's such a relief, and he ends up for the first time ever in Gibbs's basement, shaking and drinking bourbon while Gibbs works quietly nearby. 

When he's finally calmed down, Gibbs looks up at him. Walks to where he's sitting on the stool at the workbench, and strokes his hair once. 

"Good boy," he says quietly. 

Tony beams. 

See? Someone loves him. And that's all he really wants.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[podfic] Good Boy](https://archiveofourown.org/works/971403) by [copperbadge](https://archiveofourown.org/users/copperbadge/pseuds/copperbadge), [reena_jenkins](https://archiveofourown.org/users/reena_jenkins/pseuds/reena_jenkins)




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